Sunday letters: The 1956 Hawkeyes were special indeed

10:10 AM,
Jun. 29, 2013

In 1956, coach Forest Evashevski led the Iowa football team to a 9-1 record and a Rose Bowl win.

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It is the 1956 fall football season at the University of Iowa and the Hawkeyes are really rolling. I was just a sophomore and was living with three other guys on Linn Street in Iowa City. We were a close bunch of guys and decided to do something special for the eighth game of the season against Ohio State.

Several days before the game, we obtained a weather balloon and a tank of helium from the physics department. On game day, we filled up the balloon under the stadium stands and took it to our seats in the student section just below where Tait Cummins was about to bring the fans the game on radio WMT. All ...